I’m lucky to have only one, relatively self-sufficient teen at home for lockdown, but I feel for parents of young children. Good weekend weather will have been a help, but homeschool fatigue will make the coming week difficult.
Desperation grows
As the
Days
Tick
By.
Worksheets that
The school sent out
Make
The kids
Sigh.
We long for
Normal routines:
Work,
School,
Kai.
Desperation grows
As the
Days
Tick
By.
I love the progression of flowers through spring and summer, especially the bulbs. I look forward to each one as it makes an appearance.
Daffodil pokes
Its yellow head
Into the air
Is it safe yet?
Snowdrop nods.
Yes. Come out!
The weather’s fine.
Gladiolus grumbles
And pulls the mulch
Up to its neck.
I’ll sleep in.
Hard to be upset about lockdown when the weather is beautiful. In fact, I was a bit disappointed I was asked to go into work today. I would have jumped at the opportunity on a rainy lockdown day, but today … well I would rather have been in the garden.
Spring has sprung
It’s time to plant
Your vegetables and flowers.
The birds are busy
In the trees with
Twiggy nests and bowers.
Hoe in hand
I soon forget
The viral threat we’re under.
With bright warm sun
And growing things
The season’s full of wonder.
After 65 poems, I’ve run out of the building wrap I’ve been writing them on. I’m amazed it’s lasted as long as it did—who would have thought the builders would throw away that much useful material?
In preparation for the exhaustion of my construction waste supply, I’ve been repurposing some magnet boards I made years ago for Bugmobile programmes. I now have a pair of chalkboards that I’ll attach to my makeshift fence out front. Now as long as my chalk holds out …
I’ve finished off the very last scrap
Of discarded building wrap.
You might hope that I am done—
More lousy verse won’t see the sun.
But you know what they always say—
Where there’s will there’s a way.
Tomorrow’s verse won’t look the same
But it’ll be just as lame.
All of New Zealand south of Auckland is now at alert level 3. To most of the rest of the world, level 3 is simply “lockdown”, but to us it represents an important easing of restrictions. Just like level 4, we have to stay in our bubbles, work from home, and not travel, but in level 3 we’re allowed to sell and purchase items that aren’t food or medicine, provided we can do it online and have contactless delivery or pickup.
I was terribly smug at the start of this lockdown, knowing I had a quilting project underway, for which I had all the supplies I needed. On day 1 of lockdown, I spread out the top, batting and backing, only to discover I was 14 cm short on batting. Horrors!
I’ve spent lockdown making do with other craft projects—things I never particularly intended to make, but had the supplies for. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to finally be able to order that narrow strip of batting I need for my quilt.
We go! We go
To level three—
A lot like level four.
But it’s nice to
Click and collect
From your favourite store.
We’ve been doing lots of baking and elaborate dinners. It’s a shame not to be able to share them with friends.
The kitchen is busy and bright.
There’s plenty of food on the table.
We wish you could come for a bite.
We’ll invite you as soon as we’re able.
I’m not fond of acrostics in general, but in my exploration of different poetry forms this lockdown I’ve written one for today—the 13th day in lockdown.
Like aircraft we manoeuvre
Out of the way of oblivious
Children and dogs
Keeping our
Distance, even
Outdoors.
Waving to
Neighbours.
Doing our part to
Avert
Yet another
1. We don’t need a
3rd lockdown.
Another day, another … day. The good news is I’ve gotten work done in the garden around the rain we’ve had the past few days. I cracked open the compost pile, and the final product is excellent—always like Christmas when you discover you’ve got six cubic metres of compost to play with!
Unfortunately, it looks like the rain is going to hang around for a few more days, so any more work out there may have to wait.
Rain, rain, go away
So we can go out and play.
Covid’s got us stuck at home.
Lockdown means we cannot roam.
Because we’re tired of being lazy
Rainy weather makes us crazy.
Had my second Covid vaccination on Thursday. After 20 hours of fever, I’m finally feeling better, and am pleased to be fully vaccinated. Today’s very short poem reflects my complete inability to focus or do anything of substance yesterday.
We wait upon the daily briefing
Listen for the count
Hope the numbers decrease further
So we can go out.
Happy National Poetry Day to all my Kiwi friends!
If we weren’t in lockdown, I would have done some poetry with my students this week. But they’ve been about as interested in schoolwork as I have during the past week. For today’s poem, I imagined the educational tasks their parents were setting them.
School today
Will be held outdoors
Beginning as soon as
You finish your chores.
For maths you’ll measure
How far you can throw
A three kilo rock.
It’s not easy, you know.
The bees will be
Your new science teachers.
They’ll teach about flowers
And six-legged creatures.
PE will consist of
Cartwheels and rolls,
Wrestling the dog,
And digging deep holes.
And writing?
Let’s just forget about that.
Instead you’ll go hunt
For mice with the cat.
Robinne Weiss 